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Volume 2, Chapter 11: The store owner is not present.

That is what Zeke told Helena who had just arrived for work. He had been informed a few moments ago by a maid from Risa’s house.

“What?! Is she okay?!”

“The maid didn’t get into specifics, but she is not in mortal danger.”

Helena relaxed a little at that. She was reminded of the time when her mother passed away.

Anyways, if Risa was okay, they had to focus on the café. As the store owner wasn’t present, the decision whether the shop would open fell to Zeke.

“What about the café…?”

Helena asked. Zeke thought about it for a bit and said, “Let’s open business.”

Helena personally felt anxious about opening without Risa around, but she couldn’t help but nod at Zeke’s confident reply.

It would be better to have more hands on deck, though, Helena thought. She ran to Silas’s Magical Tools Store next door.

The poster girl, Angelica jumped and stopped halfway through her “welcome!” Ignoring her look of shock, Helena stomped up to the counter.

“Angie, please help us with the café!”

Just then, Angelica’s father, Gunt, peeked his head out from the back to see what was going on. He quickly agreed to lend Angelica, so Helena managed to get a helper for the café.

While they frantically ran around preparing, it was suddenly time to open shop. They somehow managed to open without too much trouble, but the workload only got worse as time went on.

The café quickly filled with customers as always, and orders came streaming in.

Helena and Angelica took turns taking orders and helping Zeke out in the kitchen.

All of the cooking that was usually split between Risa and Zeke fell on Zeke’s shoulders. Helena let Angelica take care of as much waiting as possible while she helped support Zeke by doing simple tasks like plating salads.

Even so, there were complaints from the customers that the food was slow to come.

The flurry of orders slowed down after lunchtime. While the café remained at full capacity, more customers came to have afternoon tea and spend the time idly.

Finally able to catch their breaths, the three employees (and helper) took rotating breaks.

When it was Helena’s turn, Zeke told her she could eat the leftovers from lunch. However, she couldn’t seem to find the appetite so she sipped at the lukewarm soup, reflecting on how fast the problem that Zeke mentioned previously had become reality.

… If one of us three fell sick, the café wouldn’t be able to run.

Angelica was helping out today, but she couldn’t help out every day. Besides, how long would it be possible to run the café without their backbone, Risa?

Helena violently shook her head to dispel her spiraling thoughts and downed the rest of the soup in one go, resolving to try her best to survive the rest of the café’s open hours.

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“Thank you for your patronage.”

Helena sent out the last customer and flipped the sign hanging outside the door. She closed the door and let out a sigh. Their helper Angelica was collapsed on a chair with her head on the table.

She squeezed out a tired, “It’s finally over…”

“Thank you so much Angie! You’ve been such a great help, we couldn’t have done it without you!”

“Ahh… It’s really nothing…”

Angelica laughed and weakly raised her right hand to wave away the compliments.

Helena cleaned up the last of the dirty plates from the tables and headed towards the kitchen.

“Here’s the last batch.’

Zeke was washing the pile of dirty plates at the washing sink. Even he was tired out by the workload, as there was a sleepy air about him.

Helena said “Thanks again, you can go home now,” to Angelica and picked up the clean dishes next to Zeke to dry them.

“Mister Zeke, what are we going to do about the café from now on? Tomorrow is the regular holiday, but if Miss Risa needs more time to get better… We can’t keep asking Angelica to come help, but we don’t have time to hire and teach new employees, either.”

Helena looked at Zeke.

After a while, he answered, “You’re right… Let me think about it. For now I’ll go check on Miss Risa tomorrow.”

Helena knew that he was the most worried about Risa.

At first, Helena had thought Risa and Zeke were going out. After working with them, though, she understood that nothing could be further than the truth. Zeke began working under Risa after falling for her sweets, and their relationship was clearly that of a master and her student.

Even so, one was a man and the other a woman. She began to wonder whether Zeke was actually romantically attracted to Risa. She tried a wild guess the other day only to receive the blatant result of his flushed face, a stark contrast from his usual blank expression.

Regardless of his feelings, though, Helena had no interest in helping him. After all, her previous experience told her it was pointless for a third person to butt in and try to push things along.

The Central Women’s School Helena went to was on very friendly terms with the Central Men’s School, so there were a lot of opportunities to interact with the opposite sex. When friends got together, they would immediately start talking about love. Sometimes, even Helena would be told, “I like this person so help me out.”

There were times when collaboration did lead to fruition, but more often than not it would turn into full on war over one boy. Even bystanders would be dragged into the fray. Thus Helena learned that it was best to keep far, far away from other peoples’ love lives.

However, just a little would probably be okay, right? That was why Helena asked Zeke to go visit Risa alone. She lied, saying she had something she had to take care of tomorrow.

Helena had pulled pranks on Café Omusubi, blaming it for the horrible business at her family’s Chester Bakery. The one who reached out to help her back on the right track was Risa.

Not only that, but Risa even taught her father how to make the new, fluffy bread. She revered Risa as a human and as a woman.

Although she wouldn’t go out of her way to help, she would be happy if Risa and Zeke’s relationship took one step further.

While she thought about such things, Helena helped Zeke in silence as they finished closing up shop.